


Legend of Heroes

by MysticWolfShadows



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Adrenaline Junky Deku, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Dekusquad (My Hero Academia), Fantasy AU, I'm Bad At Tagging, Inspired by Sword Art Online, Isekai, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2020-12-09 13:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20995379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticWolfShadows/pseuds/MysticWolfShadows
Summary: When the long anticipated full dive MMO RPG game, Legend of Heroes, is finally released, Izuku and tens of millions around the world jumped into the game with great enthusiasm. But they never imagined that they would be trapped inside the game when criminals take the servers hostage.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was not a fan of SAO. That's just my opinion. I thought the writing was sloppy and Reki Kawahara didn't do any research. But SAO was my first Isekai, and I loved the idea of full dive virtual reality, being trapped in a video game that could kill you, and the (supposed) theme of relationships online being just as important as IRL ones. So, since MHA season 4 is so close, and I just finished watching SAO Alicization, I figured why not do my own take on a crossover/AU or whatever. Don't know if I'll do more, but I figured I might as well get started. So, tell me what you thing, and hope you enjoy!

Izuku was excited, walking down the street side by side with his step-dad. Today was probably the biggest day of his sixteen years of life, and he couldn't slow his beating heart or stop rambling. 

"It's the most anticipated game of the year!" Izuku said, beaming up at his step-dad as he clutched his ticket in his hands. "Even with the dozens of Full-Dive VR games out there, there's almost nothing like Legend of Heroes! In the first week after the announcement, there were nearly three million pre-orders, all over the world. And today, there's going to be over ten million people picking up their copies. Not that they could fit that many people into one server, though. There's only going to be two thousand on our local server, and-" 

"Izuku, my boy," the blond man chuckled. "You're rambling again." 

Stopping, the greenette blinked. He supposed he had been rambling. But really, who could blame him? 

During the testing phase of the game, Izuku had been one of the lucky few to be part of the beta tester team. He, along with ninety-nine others, had gotten to explore the first area of the game, get as far as they could in three months, while reporting any bugs they found. Though Izuku had been sceptical at first, he'd fallen in love with the game, and had thanked his father, Hisashi Midoriya and a programmer on the games dev-team, for getting him in. 

His parents had divorced when Izuku was young, when Hisashi had spent a vast majority of his time at work, and rarely even saw Izuku or his mother Inko. The divorce had been… messy. Hisashi had refused to change and realized his mistakes too late. Inko had already met someone else, Toshinori Yagi, and the two had hit it off. It wasn't long before Izuku, who was five at the time, started calling 'Mr. Yagi' dad. Still, Hisashi had kept trying to win at least Izuku back, mostly through gifts. 

When they finally reach the gaming shop Izuku is supposed to pick his copy up from, there's a line going down the street. Of people waiting to get in and buy one of the limited copies in store. Thankfully, Izuku's ticket would get him in to pick up his pre-ordered hard copy without trouble. While people were hooting and cheering, pushing each other outside as they wait, Izuku had his copy secure in his hands and ready to play. 

"Your mother and I are going out once she gets back," his step-dad reminded him as they were walking back to the house. "We'll be gone the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening. So you'll have to keep track of time yourself, make your own dinner." 

"I know," Izuku said, heading up the stairs to his room as soon as they were home. “I have class tomorrow, so I’ll be off and in bed by ten. I promise.” 

Leaving his step-dad to chuckle and get ready for ‘date night’, Izuku went into his room to prep his computer. He had a very complicated set up, thanks to his streams. As a hobby, Izuku had started doing game reviews online, and after he’d gotten rather popular, a lot of his followers started asking if he could do playthroughs and streams. Figuring ‘why not’, Izuku did. Now his hobby made him one of the top ten gamers on streaming services. His step up for recording had changed with him, and he had a special set up that let him start or stop streams and let him view the live chat while playing. 

With everything set up, Izuku laid back on his bed, pulling the nerve-gear on. With a press of a button, he squirmed into a comfortable position, and closed his eyes. Slowly, Izuku began to feel the familiar weightless drift as the nervegear connected with his mind, and began to project the loaded game into his brain. 

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in an empty field surrounded by trees. The grass was soft under his feet, as he stretched his bare toes out. Wildflowers of all colors were speckled all around the field, and Izuku couldn’t help but beam as he breathed in the scents of nature. Just ahead of him, two identical swords were buried in the ground, crossing each other, with the logo of the game hovering just over them. 

Lifting his hand, Izuku made a horizontal swipe with his right hand in the air. Instantly, his menu appeared before him, with options for adjusting system volume, brightness, and other things, as well as opening his stream. He tapped on that option first, pulling up his stream menu. Setting up the camera came first, since it was probably the hardest part. Izuku set up two, angling one towards his face on the upper left and the other looking over his right shoulder from behind him. Once he was sure he liked the lay out, he finally opened the stream. 

Instantly, the number shot from zero to the low thousands. Izuku smiled, losing out his menus to let more people join, before turning to look at the camera. In front of him. 

“Hey everybody,” he said with a smile, the live chat popping up on his left. “We’re just getting started on Legend of Heroes! We have until seven thirty, my time, to to get through the opening area today. That’s four hours, so we should get pretty far.” 

Turning back to the game, Izuku started going through the game set up. The world around him shifted and changed, moving Izuku through the opening sequence. A tale of war unfolded, about a hero who held a legendary sword, and used it to vanquish evil hundreds of years ago. Now, with evil rising again, a call has sounded for all heroes to find the sword and vanquish evil once more. 

Izuku, grinning, rambled ideally as he made his character. He was making one that was a lot like his test character from the Beta, just simple like him, with a simple Adventurer class and specialty in hand-to-hand and swords. Anyone could equip any weapon or armor, but only certain classes could get the bonuses from using them. Only healing classes could get the full bonus of equipping staves, and only ranged attackers would get the full bonus for equipping bows.

Then, of course, there was the massive magic index. During development, the programmers had asked fans and potential players to submit magic requests. Almost half of the animation and art budget went to implementing and designing most of them. Izuku wasn’t much for magic, since completing his character without selecting a magic specialty allowed him to get boosts in melee attacks. 

As Izuku was making his character, he rambled all to all his viewers. He talked about the game, what he was most excited for and all that. His viewers loved it. 

When he finally got into the actual game, he was in one of the many starting homes in one of the many starting villages. The start of the games story was that the player was a young hero, just starting out, who was staying in a rest home open to all heroes. 

“It’s actually very interesting,” Izuku said to his viewers as he walked from where the game had transported him in front of his bed to the door to the room. “With so many players, they couldn’t assign everyone to the same room at launch. So, they made five starting zones, with twenty-five starting homes in each zone, and sixteen rooms in each starting home. Each player is assigned a room at random, so fifteen other players I don’t know could already be here!” 

Opening the door, Izuku made his way down the hall and towards the stairs. The game had assigned his starting home as a room at the end of an upstairs hallway. There were five other rooms in this hallway, with most of them being left open. Izuku smiled, shaking his head, and heading towards the stairs. 

“Some people,” he sighed, starting to head down the steps. 

It turns out he was on the third floor, and had to pass through the second floor to get to the ground level. Most of the doors seemed to have been opened already, so most of the players he was sharing a starting home with must have already logged in. He wondered if, maybe, he would get to meet any of them, or if they would buy their own homes as soon as they could. 

“The NPC’s are fairly simple,” Izuku said as he reached the bottom of the stairs, and made his way to the house matriarch, who would give him his first quest. “Their dialogue trees aren’t that complex, and the ones that give you quests don’t give you a lot of information verbally. It’s because the NPC’s can only interact with one person or group at a time, so they have to speak as quickly as possible to open room for the next player or party.” 

Tapping the matriarch on the shoulder to get her attention, Izuku watched as she turned around from her task of baking, and smiled at him. The NPC’s were really lifelike. All their movements were fluid and not at all choppy or robotic. 

“Good to see you up and about!” she said, her smile bright and kind, as she clasped her hands together in front of her. “A young, up and coming hero shouldn’t spend all day in bed or stuffed away in their room. Here, I took the liberty of fixing your old bag and making you this Home Stone." 

A notice window popped up in front of Izuku. It was mostly transparent, with only the text being a hard color. That was mostly so they could see if anything was coming after them while talking with NPC's or accepting quests. 

_ You have received a Heroes Bag. This item acts as your inventory. To access your inventory, simply swipe down with your left hand. This will open your game menu, and the inventory icon will be the top option. _

_ You have received a Home Stone. This item is connected with your Home, a safe space that only you have access to. Using the Home Stone will teleport you into the entrance of your Home. To use, either open your bag and select, or use vocal commands by saying "Home Stone, Teleport". _

Humming, Izuku closed out the notice window and turned back to the matriarch. 

"Could you be a dear and go out and get a few things for me?" She said, smiling as she held out a piece of paper. "It won't take long. Just some things for dinner." 

Another box popped up. It was a quest box. The Matriarch just wanted a few wild strawberries and a handful of rosemary sprigs, and would give him a beginner's weapon for his class. In his case, it was a sword, instead of his starting knife, and a 'mystery item'. He already knew it was a Heroes Coin, which would kickstart the main quest to go to the Heroes Guild and accept the 'call to action'. 

Tapping 'Yes', Izuku turned away from the Matriarch and started towards the house door. The opening quest wouldn't take long, but if he got the other starter quests in town, he'd be able to do them all at once, and go to the next zone with a higher level. 

"While the starting quest would give me enough EXP to be at an acceptable level for the next main story quest," Izuku says to his camera, "these other quests will only be of any help right now. Since the amount of EXP gained from a quest remains the same and doesn't scale to your level." 

"I didn't know that!" Someone said behind him. 

Turning, Izuku found a girl at the bottom of the stairs that led to the rooms. She looked to be a typical starting cleric, with the standard white tunic and a red hooded shawl around her shoulders. Her character was fairly simple, with shirt brown hair and brown eyes. Her character name, [Uravity], hovered over her head in bold white text. She must be one of the players he shared a house with. 

"O-oh!" Izuku said, sweating a little. He still wasn't used to playing with girls, or even talking to them, since most of the girls in his class liked to ignore him. "Y-yes… The, um, opening quest is also randomized, so while she could ask me for mint and strawberries, she could ask you for basil and carrots! So, if we formed a p-party, we could share our starting quests and get more EXP for completing it, even if we don't get to share the reward items…" 

"That's so cool," she said. "Why don't we form a party? I have a friend who logged in nearby. Maybe we can all go together?" 

"Er…" Glancing at his frontal camera, Izuku nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm… sort of streaming right now. So if you rather not play with people watching, then we probably shouldn't." 

"That's okay." 

With a smile, she turned to the matriarch, and Izuku stood back as she got the same talk he had. He took the moment to open the menu and open the friends and party menu. When Uravity had her quest, he sent her a party request, which she quickly accepted. 

"Can I add my friend to?" She asked, already opening the menu to try. "Oh! My profile friends list gets transferred into the game?" 

They added another player, [Ingenium], to their party, and opened up voice chat. 

"[Uravity]!" [Ingenium]'s voice echoed through chat. "You are already partied with someone?!" 

"It's okay, Ingen!" [Uravity] said. "He knows a lot about the game, so he can help us." 

"Y-yes!" Izuku said. "I'm [Deku]! We, um, can meet at the town square. It looks like your in one of the nearby starting homes. So we can all pick up the nearby quests before going out to the field." 

[Ingenium] quickly agreed, and they made their way to the village square. There weren't very many buildings in this village. Just a few matriarch's starting homes, a blacksmith, tavern, and NPC houses. The village square was more of a well that just happened to be in the center of town. There were a few players milling about, either looking around or waiting for people. 

[Ingenium] was standing just beside the well, facing to the right. He was tall, with sharp eyes and dark hair. Though the game corrected his vision, his character still wore glasses. He was dressed in the standard starting equipment for a Freelancer, a class similar to Adventurer. It was a good experiment class, for testing how different chosen stats would affect power of attacks and abilities. In the future, [Ingenium] could become an outstanding glass canon, weak strength but speedy DPS, or an unbeatable shield. 

"Tenya!" [Uravity] shouted, running ahead of Izuku to [Ingenium]. "I'm so glad we started in the same area!" 

"[Uravity]!" [Ingenium] scolded, one hand raised in a strange chopping motion. "you are not supposed to use my real name! It is [Ingenium]!" Turning, the taller male reached out, holding a hand out to Izuku. "Hello! You must be our party leader. The one streaming." 

Blinking, cheeks going a little red, Izuku quickly reached a hand out. "Ah, yes! I have two cameras set up. One aimed at my face and another over my right shoulder so they can see my menu. I was, um, a beta tester. And I did discussion videos about the game, so my subscribers are all really eager to see how it looks in action." 

After a quick explanation on how to share quests with the party, they made their way around the little village, collecting each of the spare quests. All of them were in the forest, in generally the same area, so once they got started, it wouldn't be long before they finished. 

Fighting wood sprites, little goblin like creatures with pointy noses and bark skin, and collecting quest items, they gained a couple levels. Izuku explained how they should decide on their bonus points, showing [Uravity] how her class would naturally add more skill points to things like Wisdom, that helped with magic. If she wanted to be a good support cleric, she'd do better with adding her points into Dexterity to speed up her skill cool downs and Perception to let her cast buffs and healing from further away. [Ingenium], however, had taken notice to the fact that a lot of his stats were very close to each other, most even being the same amount. Izuku, in turn, explained how the Freelancer class was like a blank canvas, and he wouldn't be able to suggest anything until he knew what kind of player [Ingenium] wanted to be. In the end, [Ingenium] decided to wait on using his points. 

As they worked through the quests, finishing up their gathering of random herbs and bits of monsters, they passed by other players fairly often. Most of them seemed to be solely focused on their starting quest, getting agitated when they found [Uravity] grabbing the last of the oranges or [Ingenium] grabbing the last sprig of mint in an area. 

As Izuku grabbed the last of the wood sprite bark for the blacksmith's quest, he spotted two other players at the edge of the clearing. They were very different from each other, with one being a tall duel haired boy in mages gear, and the other being a short curly haired boy in thief's gear. Really, Izuku wasn't sure how the two had paired together, since mages were weak hitters in close range, and thieves had low defense. 

Before he could remind himself that it was DEFINITELY none of his business, the taller of the two looked over. Instantly, the other boy started walking towards him, the light catching in his two toned hair, a crimson red on the left and a snowy white on the right. Izuku also took note of the heterochromic eyes, one an icy blue and the other a rich brown. Honestly, Izuku didn't know how this guy had gotten such a character model, since the nervegear system used scans and photo analysis to model a profile after the actual person, but it was interesting to see. 

When the other boy stopped in front of him, Izuku opened his mouth to talk, only to be distracted as the twin toned boy opened his menu. Blinking, unable to see what was happening, he was surprised when a message box popped up in front of him. It was a friend request box, for a [Sh0t0]. 

"I subscribe to your channel," the guy, [Sh0t0], said. "Your analysis and discussion videos for the Beta of Legend of Heroes was what convinced me to try it out. And, because of that, I know you can help me figure out how to play.” 

Blinking, Izuku glanced at the live chat, still hanging just at the corner of his eye. The chat had exploded, several messages to accept spamming through almost to fast for him to read. So with a nervous smile, he tapped accept. 

“I’m streaming and in a party right now,” Izuku explained, gesturing to [Uravity] and [Ingenium]. “So, if you and your friend don’t mind working in a group, then I’m sure I can help.” 

“He’s not my friend.” 

Izuku frowned, turning to look at the shorter boy, whose username seemed to be [Gr4pe*Ju1ce]. The shorter boy was glaring, looking about ready to throw a fit. Then, he saw something behind Izuku. His entire face changed, looking pleased, and giving Izuku a thumbs up. Izuku cringed. 

“Er, right…” Opening his menu, Izuku sent the two a party invite, adding them to their group. “Well, [Sh0t0], if you haven’t used your bonus points from leveling up, I would suggest putting them in Resistance, Dexterity, and Wisdom. Resistance will help raise your magical defense, Dexterity your casting speed, and Wisdom your overall amount of Mana. All good things for any mage to have.” 

“I’m a mage?” [Sh0t0] asked. 

Stopping, Izuku stared at him. He wasn’t sure if the other boy was joking or not. He didn’t know if he should laugh, or ask the other boy if he’s okay. [Uravity] beat him to it, though, frowning at [Sh0t0]. 

“You would have chosen your class at the opening,” she said, as confused as Izuku. “How can you not know you’re a mage?” 

“I didn’t know what to do, so I just hit random and started playing.” 

Izuku took a deep breath. While there wasn’t much to choose when making a character, just the starting class and your choice in magic, there were at least a couple dozen classes, and a mage had several dozen different kinds of magic to choose as their main. Really, [Sh0t0] could be anything, which made helping so much harder. 

“This is what you shouldn’t do,” Izuku said to his frontal camera. “Never randomize a character. Especially if you plan on looking up tips on how to play.” Turning to [Sh0t0] again, Izuku nodded. “Open your menu and tell me what kind of magic you have. You haven’t used your level points yet, have you?” 

“No,” [Sh0t0] said, flicking his hand to open his menu. While Izuku couldn’t see his menu screen from where he was, he watched as [Sh0t0] tapped on what he could assume was his magic icon. “Duel magic, Fire and Ice… What does that mean?” 

And of course he would end up with a more complex magic set. Of course he did. 

“There are tons of different types of magic for mages,” Izuku explains. “There’s professions, meaning that a mage only knows one type of magic, usually elemental like lightning, fire, ice, earth, and so on. Then there's duel mages, with two elemental types, like you. While you have better range, with less of a chance of getting stuck in a fight that you’re not very effective in, there’s the drawback of not having access to the highest level spells in either type, and it’s easier to over use your ability, causing you to gain status effects like burn or frost. If you haven’t noticed yet, there should be two little bars under your mana. When you use your magic, one of them will fill as red when you use fire, and the other fills as light blue when you use ice. When they’re full, you’ll get burn or frost respectively. This applies to all magic, no matter what class you have, but only the mage class can have multiple magic types, so it’s rare that others are affected by it. You may want to add a couple points to Endurance when you get mid level magic, though, since it will help slow the rate your bars fill, or play with a cleric who can heal you.” 

Slowly, [Sh0t0] nodded. He frowned and looked at his menu, before tapping at a few things. Izuku kept an eye on [Sh0t0]’s stats in the party menu. His mana bar grew after the first couple taps, so [Sh0t0] must have taken Izuku’s advice seriously. 

Turning, Izuku hummed and looked at the shorter boy. He wasn’t really paying attention, instead just looking at [Uravity] with an almost lecherous look. For a minute, Izuku wondered about kicking him out of the party, and maybe PKing him, just to be rid of him. But that wouldn’t be nice, or even fair, to send [Gr4pe*Ju1ce] all the way back to town without giving him a chance. 

“As a thief,” Izuku said, getting his attention. “You’re going to want Dexterity, Luck, and Charisma. Dexterity for speed, Luck for finding rarer items in drops and chests, and Charisma for how much you can sell them for at markets.” 

“Yeah,” the boy said, clearly not paying attention. “Sounds great.” 

With a sigh, Izuku turned to [Ingenium], [Uravity], and [Sh0t0]. They were now looking at him, ready to go on. He thought for a moment, humming, as he thought about their skills. They were fairly well rounded now, and he supposed they were done with their quests. All they needed to do was head back to town. It would be better to walk, though, since using the Home Stone would scatter them. 

“We should be okay heading back to town now,” Izuku said. “We should walk. Maybe gain a little EXP on the way. But I think we have a pretty good start, and would make a really well rounded team.” 

They all agreed, and were soon on their way. Now that [Sh0t0] knew what he was doing, he seemed rather confident in his mage skills, carefully waiting until Izuku or [Ingenium] had gained an enemies attention. While [Gr4pe*Ju1ce] wasn’t all that helpful, he did pick up a few extra drops that the rest of them didn’t, just by being in the party. [Uravity did a great job healing them when they needed it, though it wasn’t often. 

When they got closer to town, [Gr4pe*Ju1ce] got a bit too excited, and ran ahead of the rest of the party. Izuku tried to stop him, but the weak Thief got jumped by a mob of wood sprites. It was like the guy was made of glass, with each hit taking more points then [Uravity] could heal. Before Izuku or [Ingenium] could reach him, or [Sh0t0] could finish casting, the shorter boys HP bar reached zero, and his character model shattered in the dying animation. 

They were quick to dispose of the wood sprites, getting the fight over with as soon as they could. Even though they were missing a member of their party, their group dynamic hadn’t been changed. The fight was almost easier, since none of them had to worry about [Gr4pe*Ju1ce] getting in the way or accidentally aggroing the enemies due to his slightly lower level and weaker stats. 

One they were finished, Izuku opened party voice chat. “[Gr4pe*Ju1ce], we’re almost to town.” 

No response. 

“He’s not in our party list any more,” [Ingenium] points out, making Izuku’s eyes darted up to where his and his party mates HP bars are. [Gr4pe*Ju1ce] was gone. “Maybe he got annoyed and logged out.” 

“It would have popped up a message box to tell us he left,” Izuku countered. Something was… wrong. He could feel it. But what, he wasn’t sure. 

“Speaking of logging out,” [Uravity] sighs. “I should probably go. It’s getting late, and my parents will want me to eat dinner with them.” 

With a nod, Izuku frowned and continue to think. Maybe the thing with [Gr4pe*Ju1ce] was a bug the developers hadn’t noticed yet. He’d have to tell his father when he logged out, see what was wrong. As he thought, he decided it would probably be a good idea to log out as well. His stream had gone on long enough. 

Speaking of streaming, he looked over at the live chat for the first time in a while. It was going absurdly fast. Faster then Izuku had ever seen. Frowning, he went to tap it, opening his mouth to speak. 

“Um, [Deku]?” [Uravity] asks. “I know this is kind of a stupid question, but… where’s the log out button?” 

Instantly, Izuku’s stomach dropped. He turned, swiping had with one hand to open his own menu. The button to log out should have been at the bottom of his menu, but the option was empty. He stared for a moment, then reached out to tap it. It turned red, graphics glitching and turning red for a moment, before it stopped, as if nothing had happened. 

Turning to his live chat, he quickly pulled it up, scrolling up to read comments. 

Someone had broken into the server room in their region. They had planned to hold the players hostage, by removing the log out feature. But something had happened, and police had been on scene. And… 

“Players of Legend of Heroes,” a voice boomed all around. Someone was using the game’s public announcement system. “This is Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. There has been an incident at the server room for your region of the game. 

“Just over an hour ago, an unknown organization broke into the server room to take control and hold all players of the game hostage by deleting the log out feature. When police got to close, there was an incident and… the development and maintenance team for your portion of the game have been killed, leaving us with no way to log in with admin codes to return the feature to you. We have been working diligently the last half hour to find a way to figure it out. 

“However… It has been brought to our attention that the virus used to remove your logout feature has also affected resurrection code, as you have the option to log out immediately after death. This missing code has created a glitch in the nervegear. When your character dies, your nerve gear short circuits, and… And in short… You don’t come back. There are already seven players reported dead. 

“We recommend that all players use the item called ‘Home Stone’ to return to a safe place and remain there. We are working hard to find a solution to the problem, and would like everyone to remain safe until it is solved. We don’t know how long it will take, but we will not stop until we have found a way. In the meantime, please remain calm, while we do everything we can to keep you all alive and safe, both in game and out.” 

The PA system shut off, and Izuku remained frozen for a minute. People were… dying. Actually dying. His father Hisashi had been in that room, and was _ murdered _ by criminals. And now they were trapped in this game, and if he died here, then- 

Up ahead, in the starting village, Izuku heard someone scream. He went wide eyed, turning to look at his party members. [Sh0t0] was frozen, his two colored eyes wide. [Uravity] was covering her mouth, hands shaking as she backed up, hitting a tree and sliding down it to the ground. [Ingenium], meanwhile, was tapping frantically at his menu. And Izuku realized that he wasn’t the only one who could die here. His party mates, his new _ friends _ could die. Who knew how long they could be stuck here. It could be hours, days. Months? Maybe even years. 

If they couldn’t get someone to remove the virus and restore the game data, then how could they get out? Well… Izuku remembered something his father had said, a few weeks before, when Izuku had stumbled upon something in the later area of the game. There was an admin console just outside what is, in the current build, considered the last area of the game. If he could get to it, he should be recognized by the system and allowed access. It was a long shot, but… 

Taking a deep breath, Izuku turned to his frontal camera, keeping himself looking as confident and composed as he could. 

“I need someone to start recording my stream,” he said, voice as steady as he could make it. He waited a minute, waiting until he could see in live chat that at least a few people were. “Recording? Good. I’m [Deku], and my father was one of the developers of Legend of Heroes, but I was also the first Beta Tester. I got farther then anyone else, and I know where to find an admin console in game. If someone can reach it, and knows how to code, they can reinstate the log out function. I’ll go as well, since I know I can use my fathers admin access to initiate a system reboot and safely log out all of the players.” 

Thanks to his camera, he could see the reactions of his party mates. [Ingenium] had looked up, turning to stare at Izuku instead. [Uravity] had stood up, staring as [Sh0t0] turned to look at him. 

“It will take time,” Izuku continued. “And I’ll need help. If the police figure something out before I reach the console, then that’s fine. After all, It could take anywhere from a month to six months to get to a level where I can safely get there, since I can’t risk my health getting to low. But until we’re all out, safe at home, I’ll continue to work towards the goal. And continue to stream daily, to keep everyone up to date.” 

Taking a breath, he pauses. “Whoever recorded that, please send it to Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. In the meantime, I’m going to turn off my stream. I have preparations to make.” 

Reaching out, Izuku turned off the stream and closed the live chat. He could open it again later, or tomorrow. There was a lot he had to do, if he was aiming for the console. He needed to get his quest rewards, and the Heroes Coin. He knew enough of the games story and story progression system that to unlock access to the area he needed, the Dark Isle to the north, he had to first enter the Great Capital Palace, in the center of the world map. The only problem with that is that he had to earn an invite from the Queen, after proving himself as a True Hero through quests for the Heroes Guild. 

“You aren’t really going to go through with your plan, are you?” 

Turning, Izuku looked now at [Uravity]. He wasn’t sure if he should tell her. All he knew was that he couldn’t let anyone else die when he had an idea of how to stop it. It would be difficult to do on his own. Not impossible, but very, very difficult. Especially with the stress of not dying once along the way. 

But he couldn’t ask anyone to join him. Now that they knew what had happened to [Gr4pe*Ju1ce], he couldn’t ask [Uravity], [Ingenium], or [Sh0t0] to join him. The game was meant to be fun, a safe way to live a fantasy life and be whoever they wanted to be. In fact, the majority of players wouldn’t even know there’s a full full flushed out story aside from the ‘become a great hero’ thing. That there was an actual final boss to beat and a dark kingdom to destroy. Izuku only knew because of his father talking about what they’d do when the final boss was actually defeated in game. 

“I’ll come with you,” [Sh0t0] said, stepping forward with his head held high. “It will be easier to do together.” 

“I can’t ask you to do that, [Sh0t0],” Izuku sighed. “I know I can do this, and it would be easier to do with help, but I can’t ask you-” He glanced at [Uravity] and [Ingenium]. “-any of you to risk your lives and come with me. You saw what happened with [Gr4pe*Ju1ce]. He just… He just vanished. He took that final hit, and he disappeared, as if he had never been here at all.” 

Chewing her lip, [Uravity] stepped forward. “We… We know. But you’ve been so kind to us, [Deku]. You showed us how to play, and there are others out there who don’t know how to play. _ Kids _ who don’t know how to play. They could get hurt, and if we don’t do something…” Shaking her head, she clenched her fists around her staff. “We can’t just sit back and watch them die. It wouldn’t be right.” 

Izuku looked around at his little party, his new friends, and couldn’t help but smile. All of them looked so determined, [Ingenium] looking ready to argue with him if he refused. So he laughed. Laughed and smiled. 

“Alright,” he said. “Then let's go turn in these quests and get that Heroes Coin.” 


	2. Chapter 2

They made their way quickly back into town, giving Izuku the time to see how the other players were doing in their starting town. So far, it didn’t look good. There were children crying in the road, NPC’s walking past them as if nothing had changed. There were men and women, scared, terrified. Children crying for their parents, screaming for help. 

As Izuku made his way to his starting home with [Uravity], he made sure that he could take note of all the players there. Or, as many as he could. When he arrived to his homes matron, he turned in the quest, about the same time [Sh0t0], [Ingenium], and [Uravity] did. The flood of EXP pushed him up another level, letting Izuku use another spare skill point to raise his strength again. 

With that settled, Izuku turned to [Uravity], even as the matron spoke to insight the story. It was just basic stuff. Heroes Coin, a simple golden coin emblazoned with a sword and staff crossing in an X on both sides, was exactly what they needed to get into the Heroes Guild in one of the larger towns. And if they wanted to get quests that paid in more then basic weapons and raw materials, they would have to register as an ‘Adventurer’ with the Heroes Guild. 

They met up with the others back at the town square, where Izuku had [Ingenium] boost him up onto one of the buildings. 

“Everyone!” Izuku called, over the raging cries of panic of the other players. He managed to grab their attention, just barely, as so many lost and scared men, women, and children turned to him. “Please, calm down! Everything will be alright!” 

“How do you know?!” someone screamed from the back as people began to pile in closer. Cries of agreement rippled through the crowd in agreement. 

“How can I know? Because…” Izuku swallowed, clenching a fist as he did his best to stand as straight backed as possible. “Because I am here!  _ We _ -” He gestured down to his teammates, his friends, down below him. “-are here! And we’re going to get to an admin console, and use it to reset the game. That will log everyone out, safely.” 

A female player pushed forward, eyes set as she looked up at them. She looked just as scared as the others, but she had the same determination Izuku had seen on [Sh0t0] and the others faces. 

“An admin console will need a security code, or  _ immense _ knowledge of the source code to hack into,” she said. “How do you plan on doing that, much less finding one?” 

“I was a Beta Tester,” Izuku explained, making murmurs wash through the crowd. “And my father was on the design team in charge of the server. I know this game inside and out. And I already know where the console is, and how to get to it. 

“It will take some time, especially if we don’t want to lose anyone on the way. But we  _ can  _ do it. All that you have to do is stay safe until then. We can’t ask you to risk yourselves trying to do this. In fact, without an experienced Legend of Heroes player as a guide or someone with lots of experience with full dive MMO RPG’s, I would suggest that everyone remain in the starting towns. So please, just wait until we’ve completed our mission. We will succeed, and we will survive!” 

Much to Izuku’s surprise, the crowd began to cheer. He climbed down, people coming up to thank him and his party, some crying tears of joy. Some people were so grateful, they tried to offer Izuku their weapons or gold. He quickly declined, telling anyone that offered that, if they ever felt the call to help, they would need it. 

With that, Izuku gave his partymates a quick nod, leading them out of town and beyond the relative safety of the starting town. When they were out of sight of the town, Izuku let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. The crunch of the dirt road under his feet and the tall trees shooting up overhead were a familiar comfort. He’d spent so much time playing as a Beta tester, that the return was easy, even with the new threat that loomed over them. 

“Excuse me!” a female voice called from behind. “Mr. Beta Tester!” 

Stopping, Izuku turned with the rest of his group, finding a girl running towards them. Well… Girl was a bit of an understatement. Her character was rather… robust, and she was actually a bit taller then Izuku, if only by an inch or two. 

“Y-yes?” he stammered, figiting almost nervously now that he was out of the crowd. He had found it strangely easier to talk to the players as a group, rather then individuals. 

The girl’s face was set, eyes blazed with determination as she came to a stop in front of him. 

“My name is Momo,” she said, giving a slight bow, her dark pony tail cascading over her shoulder. “I was wondering if there was, perhaps, anything I could do to help you on your mission. I’m not familiar with these sorts of games- I really only joined this one because a friend asked me to -but I want to do my part! Perhaps I can come with you, and-” 

“No,” Izuku found himself saying, far too quickly and far too tense. Cheeks blazing as the girl, Momo, stood up, Izuku began to wave his arms wildly as he searched for words. “No- Sorry, I- Well, I mean-” Bowing quickly, Izuku’s cheeks burned. “I’m sorry! I’m not comfortable taking any new players with me at this point!” 

For a moment, there was silence. After a second, Izuku glanced up, seeing the girls face drop. 

“I see,” she said. “I… I suppose there isn’t anything I can do to help, then… I’m sorry to have bothered you. I’ve wasted some of your valuable travel time. I’ll just return to the village, then.” 

When she turned, Izuku raked his mind for something to say. Should he console her? Try to reassure her? Tell here that, even if she doesn’t know how to play well at the moment, she’ll pick it up with time and maybe, just maybe, be able to join them on the front lines? 

No. Izuku knew that wasn’t what she needed to hear. She wasn’t going to the front lines. That didn’t seem like her kind of style… But, maybe, she could do something else. 

“Crafting!” he said quickly. 

Momo paused, turning back towards him. “I’m sorry?” 

“Crafting,” Izuku said again, figiting. “There’s… A lot of RPG’s have some sort of crafting system. Legend of Heroes has one too. All sorts. Like… Like blacksmithing, leatherworking, and brewing. The rewards and spawn system of the game makes it so that the best grade gear usually only drops when you play as a thief or if you do quests under leveled. But… But if you get your crafting high enough, you can make Epic or even Legendary grade equipment consistently.” 

“You are suggesting that I become a crafter?” 

Swallowing, Izuku nodded. “It’s one of the safest things to do in LoH… Safe for the material gathering, but I’d be willing to trade any crafting items I pick up to you for you to make me gear.” His cheeks flushed again. “I-If you become a crafter!” 

“Where would I go to learn these skills?” Momo asked. 

“Well… You can learn the skill from people in the next town…” 

Momo tilted her head in thought, before giving a bit of a smile. “Yes… I suppose I’ll have to return to the village, then. Perhaps I can recruit someone to be my guide. What is your username, Beta tester? So I can add you to my friends list to trade later.” 

“[Deku].” 

They stood for a moment, waiting as Momo opened her menu and typed at keys that they couldn’t see. Then, a message box popped up in front of Izuku. 

_ [Creati] has sent you a friend request. Will you accept? _

Izuku blinked, but tapped yes. They exchanged pleasant goodbyes, and once they were sure Momo, or rather [Creati], was on her way back to town, Izuku turned to lead his group onward. 

As they walked, killing mobs every now and then as they popped out at them, Izuku turned on his stream again. He gave a quick summary, yawning as he did. He was getting rather tired. Still, he and the others pushed on, and they all chatted amongst themselves. 

“[Deku],” [Uravity] eventually yawned. “Maybe we should take a break?” 

“Yes,” [Ingenium] agreed, looking around. “Though, I’m not sure that camping out in the open is the best choice…” 

“The game was designed to put players who fall asleep while playing into a safe space.” Izuku pulled up his inventory, yawning as he searched for the basic camping set that came with the bag. “It’s… It’s supposed to make the experience more real for role-players that play.” 

They all went about finding their camping gear. The basic camping set only had two things in it: a sleeping bag and a set of spark rocks. When Izuku had finished laying out his sleeping bag, he carefully used the rocks to start a fire at the center of their little camp. His party gave soft good nights, each of them laying down to doze off. But Izuku couldn’t sleep. 

He sat there, staring into the flickering flame before him. His parents would be getting home about now, he was sure. He already knew what would happen. If his mother and Toshinori hadn’t already heard, they’d come back home with smiles. His mother would poke her head into his room, smiling and shaking her head at the sight of him still laid out on his bed, his full dive gear still in place. Then, she’d settle down on the couch with Toshinori to watch the news, like they did every night. And those smiles would quickly disappear when the reporter undoubtedly talks about the state of everyone playing Legend of Heroes on this server. 

Pulling his knees up, Izuku hugs them to his chest, hiding his face. 

“Viewers?” he said, voice much quieter then he meant. “Can you do me a favor?” 

He paused. A glance at his viewer count and the live chat showed that while not nearly as many as earlier were tuning in, there were still nearly a thousand. At least one of them would do what he asked, right?

“Can you… Can you email my mom?” He sounded so… small. Like he was a little kid again, lost in a store. “She’s… She’s going to be home soon, if she isn’t already… She deserves to know that I’m alright… Her email is InkoMidori87… It’s the same provider as mine… Just… Please, tell her that I’m okay… And I’m gonna make it through…” 

The live chat was suspiciously silent. But he knew that someone would email his mother. Someone would tell her what he was doing… 

Reaching out, Izuku carefully tapped at his menu. He closed the live chat and turned off the cameras. Then, he laid down, hoping that he could drift off to sleep. 

XxXXxX

When Izuku finally woke up, he found that he was the last to do so. 

[Sh0t0] and [Ingenium] were gathering their gear, replacing any armor that they had taken off to lay down comfortably. [Uravity] was carefully pouring a bucket of water out over their fire, letting it fizzle and snap until it died. She smiled when she noticed him sitting up. 

“There you are, [Deku]!” Setting the bucket aside, she moved to help him up. “We were wondering how much longer it would take for you to wake up.” 

“Sorry,” Izuku said, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. “I didn’t mean to make you wait.” 

“It’s okay. All of this is… It’s scary, you know? And… And you’re just as scared as the rest of us. So if you needed to sleep, then we wanted you to sleep.” 

Izuku smiled, and got up to clean up his gear. He requipped the gear he’d taken off, just a common grade shoulder guard and the starting sword belt. Once he was dressed, he made sure his equipped sword was set correctly at his hip, before turning on his streaming cameras. 

“Alright!” Izuku said, trying to sound chipper. “Everyone’s up, and cameras are on! Good morning, everyone!” 

His live chat didn’t have very many popping in. He couldn’t blame his subscribers. After all, it was very early. 

“We’ll be heading for the closest secondary city. Secondary cities are where most of the skill tutors and Adventurer buildings are. We have to take the Heroes Coin to one of the guild buildings, where we’ll then have our choice of what to do next. Like explore, take side quests, or follow the main story.” 

He walked with everyone, and they began to chat idly. [Uravity] led their group in a bit of a bonding experience between bouts with mobs they croused on the road. They shared something about themselves, like how old they were, when their birthdays were, and what they’re favorite thing to do was. 

Izuku was, surprisingly, the oldest. He blushed, waving his hands as the others laughed. Though, they were all sixteen. [Sh0t0] pointed out that, based on Izuku’s own estimations, Izuku would actually turn seventeen while they were in the game. Even as Izuku protested, [Ingenium] insisted that they would have to do something for him. 

“If we survive the month to see it,” [Sh0t0] had added, and their group instantly grew somber. 

“H-Hey,” Izuku said, laughing as he caught sight of the city in the distance. “L-Look! We’re almost there!” 

Thankfully, that seemed to raise everyone’s spirits. It gave them the energy they needed to take off running, hurrying towards the city. The gates were open, wide and accepting, as they ran inside. Izuku was beaming, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city that welcomed them. There weren’t any other players that they could see on the streets, and that would be fine for now. 

They made their way through the city, NPC’s walking by and following their scripts. A few would step forward from their stalls, trying to offer them things, but quickly retreated when one of them said no. 

The Adventurers guild wasn’t too hard to find. The building was probably one of the tallest in the city, with a bell tower that struck the time every hour. Inside, adventurer NPC’s walked around, drinking and laughing, as they chat with each other, before getting up and heading out on their own. Supposedly, once there were enough players registered with the Adventurer’s guild, these NPC’s would wander off and disappear. It was to make the space less crowded, so that players could use the space specifically for meeting other players. 

Heading for the counter, Izuku pulled his Heroes Coin from his bag and set it in front of the manager. 

“Well I’ll be,” the manager said, beaming as she moved to pick the coin up. “Haven’t seen a Heroes Coin in a while! Been a while since we’ve had new blood, but I’m glad to have you here! You’ll just have to register, so we can issue you quests.” She paused, code calling for a branching path. “I see you’re here in a group! Do you want to register as a guild, too? It’ll cost a pretty penny, though.” 

Izuku bit his lip as the prompt box popped up. Being a registered member of the Adventurers guild was normal. But being in an actual guild was even better. Guilds got banks and storage space that could be accessed from any Adventurers building, and quests would automatically be shared with all in the guild. Solo players could also issue quests to player guilds, for items or crafting materials. But that cost… They would need to pool all their money together, just to do it… 

He made sure to explain this to the others. They didn’t mind, though. In fact, they seemed to agree rather quickly. They opened up their menus, trading Izuku all the gold he would need. SO Izuku pressed yes, only to get a prompt for a guild name and for a guild leader. 

“Who’s going to be our leader, then?” Izuku asked, frowning at the options. “And what should we call ourselves?” 

For a moment, his three party mates were silent. When he turned to look at them, they were staring as if he had three heads. 

“What?” 

“[Deku],” [Uravity] said. “ _ You _ are our guild leader. You know more about this game then we do, and you led us all the way here.” 

“You also rallied the players in the starting village,” [Ingenium] added. “They likely would have been stuck in a state of panic if you hadn’t given them hope. You’re the obvious choice.” 

Izuku felt his family's signature tears start to well, but he quickly went to wipe them away. “Th-Thanks, guys. But… We still need a guild name.” 

“Why not ‘Plus Ultra’?” [Sh0t0] suggested. Izuku jumped, wide eyed. “It’s something that one of my father’s work associates liked to say. He said it means to go beyond your limits, and reach for new heights.” 

“Plus Ultra,” Izuku said, voice soft. “My step-dad says that to…” With a grin, Izuku laughs. “Yeah! That’s perfect!” 

Turning back to the prompt box, Izuku filled in their new guild name, and tapped the accept button. The money they’d collected so far from mobs drained away, and they were left with barely enough for maybe a few healing items. Still, it was exciting to see their guild name appear under his username. Later, when they got more money, they could create a banner for their guild, maybe even buy a house! 

They decided to spend the last of their money on drinks from the bar to celebrate their guild instead of going to the shop. They needed more money to buy anything good anyway, and they’d have enough to get by until they did a few quests. So they all ordered a small meal and a ‘fizz’, the in game version of a soda. They laughed and joked, eating and being rather rambunctious. Actually, if any players wondered in, they likely would have thought they were just NPC’s until they could see their name tags over their heads. 

As Izuku and [Ingenium] were talking excitedly about what games they had played before, [Uravity] dug into her rice and fish with gusto. [Sh0t0] would add in every now and then when either of them mentioned a game he played, if only briefly, between slurps of soba noodles. Izuku barely paid any attention to his katsudon as he talked, and [Ingenium] didn’t pay much attention to his curry either. It was all just ones and zeroes being streamed into their brains, but the food was good. The company, on the other hand, was fantastic, and so very real.

When they had all finished eating, they gathered up their gear and went to one of the bulletin boards that hung on the walls. Dozens of different quests were hanging there, just simple pieces of paper. They could choose any quest, and take the page to the woman at the counter. There, they could officially accept, and go out to complete it. They ended up taking two, since they were a bit over leveled for the quests on this board, but not quite high enough for the majority of quests on the next board over. They’d have to split up, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for them. 

So, at the town gate, Izuku and [Sh0t0] wave goodbye to [Uravity] and [Ingenium], heading back down the road to the starting town. The quest they were doing was one to stop a bandit group that was nearby. It was the more difficult of the two quests they had taken, but it would still be fairly easy with just the two of them. 

“You said your step father used the phrase ‘Plus Ultra’,” [Sh0t0] questioned as they walked. “He wouldn’t happen to be Toshinori Yagi, would he?” 

Shifting nervously, Izuku nodded. “Uh, yeah… I’m guessing he’s your fathers old friend?” 

“Not friend,” [Sh0t0] corrected evenly. “Work associate. I had heard Mr. Yagi had married, but I didn’t know he had a step son.” 

“Oh, he’s a great dad!” With a soft smile, Izuku hummed. “Before he got sick, he was always doing things with me, like taking me to the park and showing me how to defend myself when he found out I was being bullied at school. After, he still tried to do stuff with me, but I was so into full dive games, and it didn’t really agree with him. So he mostly just listened to my rambles and walked with me to the store when I would go buy a new one.”

Noticing [Sh0t0]s odd look, Izuku’s stomach did a flip. “W-What about your dad?” 

“He’s my father,” he said, his voice oddly even. 

Sweating, Izuku glanced at one of his cameras. “Do you, um… Do you want me to turn off my live stream?” 

[Sh0t0] tilted his head for a moment. “Actually, I’d like to send my father a message if your viewers don’t mind.” 

Izuku glanced at his live chat. All his viewers were quickly agreeing, so Izuku nodded and pointed to where Shoto should look. “Just tell them where to send it and go.” 

[Sh0t0] nodded, turning fully to Izuku, eyes looking straight to Izuku’s over shoulder camera. “This is for my father, Enji Todoroki. His twitter is Endeavour76. And I just have one thing to say.” 

Taking a deep breath, [Sh0t0] lifted a hand, and without another word, flipped the camera the bird. He held it for a moment, as Izuku covered his mouth. He didn’t know if he should laugh or gasp or scold [Sh0t0]. Then, [Sh0t0] lowered his hand. 

“That’s it,” he said. Pausing, he turned back. “Oh, but for my siblings… Natsuo would probably be the easiest to reach. Probably on tumblr. His page name is ‘Natsuroki the Todoroni’. I’m fine, everyone. I have a team… friends that I’m working with. We’re going to fix the game so we can get out safely. So don’t worry.” 

WIth that done, and getting confirmation from people in live chat that they had gotten a clip of it to send, Izuku and [Sh0t0] were on their way once more. 

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Izuku said as they walked. “Kids watch my channel.” 

[Sh0t0] shrugged. “My father is a terrible dumpster fire. What else was I supposed to do?” 

Not sure how to respond to that, Izuku shook his head. He knew that some people didn’t have the best relationships with their parents. After all, Izuku didn’t have the best relationship with his own father. Which… he supposed he would never get the chance to try for something better. 

His dad, Hisashi, would have been in the building when it had been attacked. After all, the team was having a launch party at the time… It was a painful realization. If Izuku made it out of this alive, then he’d never see his father again. Even if he had been a shitty parent… 

[Sh0t0] must have seen something in Izuku’s face, as he started to reach out towards Izuku. It didn’t seem like [Sh0t0] even knew what he was trying to do, and neither of them likely would. Before [Sh0t0] could touch him, Izuku caught sight of movement over [Sh0t0]’s shoulder. Quickly grabbing the other boy, Izuku yanked hard, launching them both to the ground behind a tree just in time for an arrow to fly by over their heads. 

Instantly, they were both on high alert. They must have gotten too close to the bandit camp without noticing and entered an archers detection zone. Sure enough, when Izuku peered around from behind the tree, he could see a tall wooden fence in the distance, a bandit archer standing at the top. The archer remained for a moment, then turned to continue on his patrol. 

“Just a warning shot,” Izuku muttered, reaching up to rub his chin. “All enemies have the standard aggro zone. If you enter it, a quick algorithm based off of the enemies stats will either make it attack you, or run away, based on the stats of the player or NPC that enters the zones. However, a lot of more complex or ‘intelligent’ enemies also have a detection zone, where if you enter their line of sight, or make noise in it, they’re either drawn to your position or quickly attack what they saw. Most long range enemies have a much larger detection zone, and if you aren’t careful, it’s an easy way to die without knowing you’ve even been spotted.” 

“So what do we do?” [SH0t0] asked, carefully sitting up from where Izuku had dragged him. “If the archer’s detection zone is so large, then how are we supposed to get close without being attacked?” 

Tilting his head, Izuku hummed. “Well… The detection zone for sight, which is what we have to worry about with that archer, is kind of shaped like a light from a flashlight. The light goes forward and out, and lets you see everything, right? Well, what happens when you, say, shine that light at a tree?” 

“The beam splits?” 

Izuku nodded. “Exactly. And behind the tree is still darkness. Empty space. The detection zone for vision is like that. Chances are, we just happened to be in the worst place to be just as the archer turned our way. That’s some pretty bad luck, huh?” 

“I suppose it is… So we just have to stay behind tree’s and out of the detection zone?” 

Another nod. “That’s right. We’ll work our way closer, and once we’re in range, I’ll go in to attack the guards at the front gate. When I do, you’ll have to use spells to attack the archer. I won’t be able to reach him from the ground. So I’m trusting you, alright?” 

[Sh0t0] gave a quick nod, face set in seriousness. “Right.” 

Together, the two of them began to edge their way closer to the bandit camp. They had come up along one of the sides, where they couldn’t enter from, so they had to work their way around until they found an entrance. There was only one bandit standing guard at the gate, but Izuku could see at least four more inside, including their boss, and there had to be at least two archers up above. Honestly, Izuku had been expecting… more. 

Holding up a finger to [Sh0t0], Izuku crept his way out of their hiding bush and towards the guard. Glancing around, he found a rock nearby that he quickly picked up and weighed in his hand. Turning, Izuku then threw it into a bush not far from where he was. It would make noise, and did its job of alerting the guard. As the sound was made via player actions, the guards detection status would be turned on, and he would go to investigate. From there, Izuku could do a bit of Assassin's Creed style execution. 

Once the guard was close enough, Izuku slinked forward, carefully drawing the sword at his hip. As the guard turned around, he reached out, grabbing the back of the guards shirt and thrusting the tip if his sword into the bandits back. He instantly spotted the ‘assasination’ notification that popped up with his xp gain, and he let the body drop to the ground. Pulling the sword from the mobs back, he watched the red pixels drift up and dissipate over the body. It would be about five minutes before it despawned. 

Turning to look at [Sh0t0], Izuku waved him to come closer. It wasn’t exactly safe, but it would be easier for the mage to hit his target the closer he was to the main fight. Once [Sh0t0] was ready, a spell loading up, Izuku ran out to engage the enemies. 

As soon as he was out of the tree line and in the open, bandits came rushing from their base to attack him. Izuku kept his eyes on them, standing his ground, even as he could see archers rushing into position up above in his peripheral. He just had to trust [Sh0t0] to take care of them. 

“Alright,” he said, keeping his sword steady, waiting for the perfect time to strike. “Let’s go!” 

When the first two bandits got close enough, Izuku swung hard. A flash of red indicated the contact with one bandits chest, and he quickly turned to slash at the other. An arrow zipped past his face from the right, before another just narrowly missed his shoulder from the left. 

_ Stay focused _ , Izuku told himself, slashing into the two bandits in front of him again.  _ [Sh0t0] can take care of the archers.  _

Sure enough, as one of the bandits HP finally reached zero and dropped like a limp sack of potatoes, a flash of light from Izuku’s right indicated a set of three low level fireball attacks being launched at the first archer. It was just in time for Izuku to cut down the second bandit in front of him and dodge another arrow from the left archer. He spared a glance at his own HP bar, pleased to find that he had barely even lost 10% of his health. Seemed they were still a bit over leveled. But that would be a good thing. 

“I’m going in,” Izuku called towards [Sh0t0]. 

“[Deku]?” [Sh0t0] called, but it was too late. 

Dashing forward, and ducking under an arrow shot at him from the other archer. [Sh0t0] would dispatch it rather quickly, Izuku was sure, which would give Izuku the time to take out at least two more bandits. He grinned, feeling that rush he always got when he had been playing by himself during the beta. Just him, his blade, and an enemy waiting to be cut down. 

Two more bandits went down, with only another 10% of his health gone. He was at 80% now. Assuming the last bandit ended up the same, and the boss bandit only did about twice as much damage, he should be able to end this without even dropping below 60% HP. 

As Izuku ran in to take down the last normal bandit, he had a sudden though. The boss. Where had he gone? When Izuku had come charging in, had he seen the hulking figure? It didn’t take long for Izuku to find out, as a shadow loomed over him from behind. 

It was then that Izuku began to wonder if, perhaps, he hadn’t made the best choice. After all, they were supposed to be careful… 

But as he turned around, a chill filled the area, and a shard of ice was suddenly rising from the ground. It rose fast, shooting up out of the ground and through the bandit leaders back. Red, pixelated damage flecks floated off the bandit leaders stomach, and Izuku moved quickly. A sharp thrust of his blade forward, piercing through the leaders chest and out through his back. 

A double critical. The body slumped, dead. 

With a grin, Izuku turned towards [Sh0t0], who had come forward at the gate. He waved, his heart still pounding in his ears, and gave a thumbs up. Ignoring the live chat exploding with ‘Adrenaline junky Deku returns!’, Izuku made his way over to the two toned boy. 

“Oh man, that was so cool!” Izuku said, grinning as he bounced on the balls of his feet. “I almost didn’t notice him, and you just came in out of nowhere, and crit him down to half! I can’t believe we took a bandit leader down in  _ two hits _ !” 

[Sh0t0] didn’t seem all that enthused, though. He stared at Izuku, open mouthed. 

“You could have died,” the other boy said, making Izuku pause. 

“But I didn’t,” Izuku said, trying to go for a reassuring smile, but failed and gave one that showed just how nervous he was. “So it’s all good! Come on, let's check for loot and head back!” 

Turning, Izuku started to poke his head into different tents, looking for chests or crates to open, or anything that gave off the tell tale white sparkles that all loot did. 

“[Deku],” [Sh0t0] said, voice a bit too soft in Izuku’s opinion. 

“It’s fine,” he insisted again, before anything else could be said. “It’s… You were here to have my back. I knew you wouldn’t let anything bad happen.” 

They both knew he was lying, but [Sh0t0] seemed willing to let it go for now, and joined Izuku in his loot search. It wasn’t a lot, but they did find a few weapons, armor pieces, and items that they took with them. None of the armor or weapons were helpful to either of them, all common grade with a level requirement two levels below what they currently had on. Still, they took it all back to town with them. It would at least give them some money to buy things that were actually useful. 

The trip back to town was rather quiet compared to the start of their quest. [Sh0t0] didn’t have very much to say, and Izuku didn’t have anything to say to him or the people watching his chat. When they got back to the Guild Hall, they found [Uravity] and [Ingenium] already there. 

“Oh, [Deku]!” [Uravity] calls, beaming at him. “You’re both here! How was the bandit quest?” 

“Super easy!” Izuku smiled, coming over to the table his two other party members had taken in a corner of the room. “What about you guys?” 

“We fought rats in a sewer,” [Ingenium] said. “It was-” 

“Super gross,” [Uravity] groans. 

Izuku smiled, taking a seat at the table, [Sh0t0] following his lead. They fell into an easy conversation, laughing and smiling, telling how their respective quests went. Thankfully, [Sh0t0] didn’t say anything about Izuku’s close call. Not that it was that close… 

At the end of the day, they rented rooms upstairs and agreed to do something as a group the next day. 

Once he was alone in his room, Izuku stretched, glancing at his camera. “Alright, guys. I’m off for the day. I guess you’ll see me again tomorrow, huh?” 

And with that, Izuku shut down his stream and laid down. It had been a long day, and they had a lot of work to do tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this took way longer to put out than I thought it would! But it's here! Chapter 2! Whoo!   
Anyway, are there any characters that from MHA that you readers want to see sooner rather than later, or any SAO plotlines that you thought was just the best? I honestly only have so much planned, and if you guys want to see the murder mystery plot or ALO in this, then tell me in the comments!


End file.
